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1985 DALLAS GAY BARS PEARL ST FREE
In the early days, they were the only places where gay men and women could socialize openly with one another in a “safe” environment where they were free to be themselves. It’s a place you can go and just relax and be yourself.” It’s a place where you can go and quit worrying about the stereotypes and what other people are thinking of you. That was a quote from a Dallas Gay Political Caucus spokesman in a 1979 Dallas Morning News article on the emergence of Oak Lawn as the center of Dallas’ gay community. It’s hard to overstate the importance of these safe meeting places at a time when men and women were being arrested and were losing their jobs simply because they were gay. * * * * *I write regularly about Dallas history, and it has been difficult to find positive media accounts of Dallas’ gay community before the 1970s. There are plenty of negative items that appeared in the local newspapers, most of which invariably focused on reports of vice raids or were generally one-sided psychology-based discussions of “aberrant behavior,” etc.īut there is almost no mention at all of gay culture. When a reader of my blog directed my attention to an article on Dallas’ gay club scene of the 1970s - with photographs! - I was pretty excited. The article, “Big Dallas” by Jerry Daniels, appeared in the May/June 1975 issue of Ciao!, a New York-based gay travel magazine. In addition to the photos, there was also info on at least 30 popular homosexual hang-outs from the time.
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(Sadly, lesbians and those of other sexual preferences are largely ignored in the article.) The piece also included several admonitions to bar-hoppers to watch their behavior around Dallas police.